Claudio Saavedra

Go forward in time to January 2009.

Tue 2008/Dec/23

• So, I'm stuck in the Berlin-Tegel airport. The plain Madrid-Berlin was also delayed for about an hour or so --no further explanations, of course. I arrived at 23:30 in Tegel, no restaurants nor cafeterias open, so no much to do.

  Fortunately, there is free internet in a waiting room, packed with other people who probably lost connections as well and a homeless guy that gets kicked out every half hour by the security people. I just need to wait until 4am, when some restaurants will open to feed the helpless.

  That's what I call vacations' day one.

Mon 2008/Dec/22

• Of course, vacations couldn't start smoothly. My Iberia flight A Coruña-Madrid got delayed and I lost my connection to Berlin. I will consequently loose my train to Dresden. Of course, they don't offer you anything else than exactly what the law enforces, so I will be in my own in Berlin-Tegel.

  Luckily, I found a bus from Berlin-Tegel to Dresden that leaves early tomorrow morning, so I will be only about. 9 hours late in Dresden and this will cost me only 23 &eur; extra.

  Now, if I could only find how to print the bus e-ticket..

Sun 2008/Dec/21

• After an interesting year, it is time for a break. I'll spend the next two weeks in vacations, away from computers, offline, etc. Where? Well, the vacations plan is still work in progress, but for sure, I'll spend Christmas in the most beautiful place in the earth..

  

  Yes, sir. I'm going back to Dresden. I'll be visiting Marie and other friends there. It is likely that I'll be visiting Berlin and Prague later as well, but the plans are not complete. We'll see.

  I am so excited about this trip. Dresden means so much to me that I just can't wait to be there. Berlin, on the other hand, is a city where I've been twice for the day, but never had enough time to visit all the interesting places, nor to see its Nachtleben. And Prague? Well, Prague is one of those pearls you can't never get enough of them.

  It's gonna be really cool..

Sun 2008/Dec/21

• After an interesting year, it is time for a break. I'll spend the next two weeks in vacations, away from computers, offline, etc. Where? Well, the vacations plan is still work in progress, but for sure, I'll spend Christmas in the most beautiful place in the earth..

  

  Yes, sir. I'm going back to Dresden. I'll be visiting Marie and other friends there. It is likely that I'll be visiting Berlin and Prague later as well, but the plans are not complete. We'll see.

  I am so excited about this trip. Dresden means so much to me that I just can't wait to be there. Berlin, on the other hand, is a city where I've been twice for the day, but never had enough time to visit all the interesting places, nor to see its Nachtleben. And Prague? Well, Prague is one of those pearls you can't never get enough of them.

  It's gonna be really cool..

Thu 2008/Dec/18

• Regarding the suspension of the Galicia-Chile match, scheduled for this 27th in A Coruña. This is how SIFUP published it:

  (La suspención) dice relación con la no autorización de los futbolistas convocados, por parte de sus clubes, para participar en dicho encuentro que debía efectuarse en la fecha anteriormente señalada en dependencias del Estadio Riazor de La Coruña.

  This is how La Tercera understood it:

  (...) en el comunicado (de sifup) se aclara que los clubes gallegos se negaron a facilitar a sus jugadores, hecho que no había ocurrido en anteriores ocasiones. En ese sentido, los clubes más destacados de esa región son Celta de Vigo, La Coruña y Pontevedra,entre otros [sic].

  This is how what Carlos Soto, president of Sifup, actually wrote to the Xunta de Galicia:

  No tenemos los diez jugadores de la lista del último partido ante Argentina que Galicia exigía por contrato. No podemos cumplir esa condición. Hay dos o tres lesionados, otros de vacaciones, y la gran mayoría sus clubes no nos los facilitan porque no es una fecha FIFA.

  Once again, La Tercera publishing crap.

Mon 2008/Dec/15

• Galician food is awesome, but the truth needs to be said:

  
  Cartoon by Gogue.

  Too many potatoes for my taste. It's not strange that one of the first galician sentences I learned is "Estou ata o carallo das patacas!".

Mon 2008/Dec/08

• This is the first public holiday I have in four months (the last one was 15th august, but doesn't really count, as I was preparing my trip to Helsinki). Somehow I managed to skip all public holidays in Chile (six, but three during weekends), in Galicia (three, but two during weekends) and in Finland (seems like all were during weekends this year).

  So, this is my first day off in like 4 or 5 months, that I am not sick in bed, preparing a trip, on a plain, jetlagged, or similar. It feels nice!

  It is worth noting that Chile had way too many public holidays for any given reason during this period. Not only that, but one was approved in record time by the congress just a few weeks before the date, which is of course a mixture of populism and laziness. Interesting.

  Anyway, back to get personal stuff done now.

Fri 2008/Dec/05

• Last Sunday, besides visiting Lima, was my last day in Chile. I made the final move to A Coruña that day. Without fancy goodbye parties, without tears, no one saying goodbye in the airport, just me and my luggage. Exactly as I wanted it to be. Looking forward, no sadness.

  I think my family was more than ready to let me go – I left my hometown when I was about to become 18; I traveled overseas for one year when I was just 22, and I hadn't spend much time in Chile in 2008 anyway. This only completes what I started 7 years ago.

  Friday was my graduation ceremony, in Curicó. My whole family went to receive my diploma with me, and we got a nice surprise. Someone in the Computer Engineering School thought I deserved an award, and it seems everyone in the Escuela agreed. I am grateful for that. My family and I had dinner in the Pizzería Real, and said goodbye as any other day. It was a really beautiful day.

  I arrived in A Coruña this monday. Calvaris was waiting for me in the airport and took me directly to the office to work. No break for me, no sir (ok, this is not completely true, I only went to A Grela to greet the guys and check my email, no real work done).

  Today I finished all the immigration paperwork, which was a pain in the ass. Had to wait on a line for two hours to get a numbered ticket, and then wait for another hour for this number to be reached, and then finally deliver all my papers. I think people were making the line since 6am or 7am. This is a clear example of why Spain is not Europe.

  Anyway, the painful part is past. Now it is time to enjoy work, Galician food, Igalia, and A Coruña. It is a really exciting moment in my life.

Wed 2008/Dec/03

• On Sunday, I had a connection in Lima with a long wait, so Diego and two of his friends picked me up on the airport and took me to the city. Basically, the excuse was to see the city but I have to confess that at the end, I was mostly interested on the peruvian food, like ceviche. Of course, neither the food nor the city dissapointed me at all. Thanks Diego, Juanpe, and Pedro!

  

  

  

Go backwards in time to November 2008.